This Letter to the Editor was submitted by Joshua Hermerding, a senior at Concordia College.
A small commentary now that registration anxiety has come and gone. I nonchalantly navigated various social networking websites these last two weeks and was privy to scores of Concordia students chattering about schedule preparation. However, one detail in particular captures my attention; students clamoring against the necessity of certain course materials. It’s a phrase deemed “facilización” here in Argentina, and it scares the heebie-jeebies out of me. Essentially, one could characterize it as “looking for the easy way out” in English, and I would contend it is rooted in our society´s glossy-eyed appreciation of academic material that is “useful”. I elect the word “useful” to refer to our infatuation with an education that provides greater security in employment and/or salary within the job market. Why do I oppose such an ideal? I believe it does reprehensible social damage by causing us to think of only our own personal experience (a finite reality!) and not in the interaction of human communities and the extension of knowledge for the betterment of our future generations, this being comparably infinite with those of our existence. Therefore, I propose a change. When selecting courses, when contemplating “senioritis” or when a written exam could be “BS-ed”, really force yourself to balk against a system which has taught you to just “get the grade,” and endeavor to fulfill a duty to sustain and progress our world together. Perhaps a quote would sum it up best: “Remember, I’m pullin’ for ya. We’re all in this together.”
